Celtic 7 Rangers 1 - 19th October 1957

The 50th Anniversary of the "Hampden in the Sun" cup final is the 19th October.

I thought it would be worth posting the following extract from Peter Burns and Pat Woods book "Oh, Hampden in the Sun" which details the great event and includes anecdotes from fans.

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Paul Cantley (now resident in London) relates a moving family tale which centred around the events of 19 October 1957:

The story commences with the arrival of my eldest sister Anne in March 1957, the first-born of Jim and Norma Cantley. Naturally, they were elated at this and planned a future for their new family. Ten days later, however, their whole life was turned upside-down when Anne suffered a massive brain haemorrhage and was committed to hospital. The distress and the ordeal, with such a young infant, of the will she/won’t she recover scenario, thinking about what caused the haemorrhage and could there be a repetition? – it was unbearable to think about. So the summer months of 1957 were a long and painful struggle for my parents, the guilt never too far from their collective conscience, as to whether there was anything they could have done to avoid what had happened. It was only to get worse. In September 1957, after months of examination, the news was broken to my parents that their daughter had been diagnosed as suffering from hydrocephalus (i.e. water on the brain). She was permanently and severely brain damaged and would never progress mentally. Physically, her life expectancy was put at no better than five years.

Naturally, the strain had taken its toll on my parents’ life, marriage, their religious beliefs – everything! They questioned whether they would risk having any more children, with the possibility, however much dismissed by the medical profession, of a recurrence. Life was not worth living and my father, who was a fanatical Celtic/football man, quite naturally, had somewhat lost his appetite for the game.

It was my mother who convinced him to go to Hampden that October day – she said he would regret not going if they won – although I think Rangers were firm favourites for the final. She said he left for the game enduring a complex of emotions – a 25 year old going to see his team in a cup final against their greatest rivals versus the guilt of not staying at home in his family’s hour of need. The match details are well documented elsewhere and I won’t dwell on them here except to say that it was the most exceptional scoreline that is ever likely to occur in the history of this fixture.

After the game, Mum opened the door to Dad (who’d come straight home, being a teetotaller!) and said that he had a grin from ear to ear – the first she had seen in months. Although they had spent the previous six and a half months in a living nightmare, they knew at that defining moment that there was life and joy beyond their misery, and that everything, although not perfect, was not as bleak as they had imagined before. “The ways of the Lord are mysterious, but wise!”

The outcome was a rethink on the children front. My eldest brother was born in July 1958 (work it out if you have to!), the second of what were to be seven children (I’m number five) in the next ten years.

The rest? Anne never did recover and was institutionalised from the age of five, unable to communicate with the outside world, but she did live to the ripe old age of 27. Dad, my inspiration, passed away in 1989, after a stroke. My last cup final with him was the “Centenary” cup final in 1988 – a day our family will never forget and one which we constantly hark back to with fond memories.

I suppose you could say that the League Cup final victory of 1957 had a profound effect on all those who witnessed it for a variety of reasons. Life, such as the tragedy of Dunblane, is a great leveller in putting sporting rivalry such as the Old Firm’s into perspective. But the opposite, as in this instance, can also be true…


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So to Big John, happy 50th anniversary on your conception!

It would be nice to get a repeat score on Saturday but things like that don't happen. Do they?